The World Dragon's Heir - Chapter 762: No Rescue Needed
As it turned out, the visitors did not need rescuing.
They needed rooms for the evening.
The only one who was no longer present was the leader of the Assassin’s Guild, and Dominic hadn’t really expected him to stay overnight in a strange location where his people could not secure the perimeter.
Not that it was particularly dangerous in Wistover, but an Assassin gained enemies by the day. If anyone out of a very small circle realized who he was, it would be bad news, and it took a great leap of faith for him to even come today and meet with Dominic.
Alexis was waiting for him after Dominic saw everyone to a room for the evening, other than Pops and Ragnar, who had gone to the forge “for a nightcap” that Dominic strongly suspected was actually an attempt to set the son of the Innkeeper’s Guild Leader up with Mead.
“So, how did it go?”
“I think that everyone’s on the same page. There was more they wanted to say, but the house wine won the battle. Mostly, they’re after a fast attack interceptor to defend against foreign airships and piracy.
We’ve already got a design that will work, we just need to improve it a bit.
I’m thinking that if we add a few repeating rifles to the front, and a bomb chute full of mortars, it would work for everything we need.”
Alexis frowned. “How did mortars get involved in the conversation?”
“Well, there are still pirates in regular boats, right? If we fly over them and drop mortars on their general vicinity, it’s just as effective as a cannon barrage, but at higher speed, with easier targeting.”
Alexis shrugged. “I will trust that you have some idea what you’re doing. Are you going to approve that directly through the King, or through the War Council?”
“The War Council asked. Count Duntamers is on it. But actual production I will send to the King so that he can get priority on changes or orders for his own forces, instead of the Noblemen’s standing armies.”
Alexis smiled. “You’re learning the way. It’s always best to give the King first choice, and priority production. Then, he will give them to the Nobles who have earned benefits, instead of the ones with money and questionable loyalty.
The previous Kings tried to be fair to all the Nobles, and we ended up with too many traitors, as we recently learned.
I think that in the future, the King will much more strongly reward loyalty to the throne. The ones who support him and Claudius the most strongly will be the ones who see the most benefit.
Not by too much, as it would isolate other factions and cause trouble, but first choice at the new developments is a big deal in the short term, even if it doesn’t hurt anyone in the long term.”
“Good point. We do the same here. The ones who are the best to us get the best production slots.
The King has been good to the both of us, far more than even he intended, I suspect. It’s only right that we give back and keep him ahead of the curve. I think that these next developments will be huge for military purposes.”
“Well, if times are changing that much, Cygnia is going to have to keep ahead of them. Do you think that other nations are going to be able to keep up?”
“Only if they put as much into developing a corps of Techno Wizards as we are. Even though they asked me to have specialized soldiers do the flying, nearly everything else about a magitech war machine needs Techno Wizards.
Even the repair work because all the materials are going to need to be magically created.”
And Wistover had the largest academy dedicated to training them. That was the part that Dominic didn’t say.
In the next few months, they were guaranteed to get an influx of applications from all over the country, students with even a minimal amount of magical potential looking to Wistover for Academy training, as the other magical academies were either on quota, or had standards too high, as they were trying to train high-level mages.
But what Wistover wanted wasn’t necessarily powerful.
What they were training were knowledgeable apprentices in the lower levels to work practical jobs. High paying practical jobs, but accessible to those with much lower magical potential.
“Get some sleep. You’ve got plenty of work ahead of you. I will take Katerina to the training grounds with me tomorrow. It’s supposed to be overcast, so she won’t get sunburned.
She likes watching everyone train, for some reason.
I thought that the loud noises would bother her because her hearing is quite sensitive. But she just loves the sounds of blades clashing.” Alexis explained.
“Truly her mother’s daughter.”
Alexis laughed. “You say that, but she still does the ’shredding blankets to get out when she’s hungry’ thing.”
“What can I say? She’s got her priorities. But honestly, she’s a dragonkin. She’s likely not going to freeze. If she’s enough like me, she should be able to regulate her temperature. I did it instinctively as a child.”
“Oh, she can do that. She just likes to be wrapped in the blanket when she’s not hungry, then she has no patience to get back out of it.”
Dominic wrapped his arm around Alexis and pulled her under the covers.
“I know the feeling. I also hate to take the time to unwrap my presents. I’m sure that the patience will come with time. Or we will find a way to make the blanket easier for her to open while still staying closed most of the time.”
Just as the sun came up, a shrill childish scream split the silence of the early morning. Alexis was startled out of a sound sleep, only to see the door explode as a flash of golden scales burst through it without bothering to open the latch.
Then, more screaming came from down the hall, near Princess Katerina’s room.
That would be the maids, she recognized the voices.
Alexis threw a dressing gown over her shoulders, and grabbed her sword as she ran down the hallway. A hallway that looked like they had suffered an earthquake or invasion, as everything was knocked to the floor.
The crying of the baby turned to childish giggles, and she began to relax. But what had happened this morning to set her off and send Dominic rushing out of the room like that?
